


Sniffles and Secrets

by 26stars



Series: AU August 2020 [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: (it would seem), Cats, F/F, Kittens, Lying to the landlord is ok if it's for a good cause, Marvel Fluff Bingo 2020, Neighbors AU, One-Sided Attraction, Pre-Relationship, forbidden love au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25707196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/26stars/pseuds/26stars
Summary: Jemma Simmons has had the sniffles for weeks and a very strong suspicion as to why. Unfortunately, she's never actually spoken to her neighbor and hates to begin their relationship with a confrontation. On the other side of the door, however, everything changes.For the AU August Day 4 prompt: Forbidden Love
Relationships: Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Series: AU August 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860802
Comments: 16
Kudos: 69
Collections: AOS AU August 2020, Women of the MCU





	Sniffles and Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> I always got a kick out of this prompt but never did anything with it until now:
> 
> “You live in the apartment next to me. We're not supposed to have pets, but I KNOW you have a cat. I'll make you a deal, I won't tell, if you let me pet it.”
> 
> Seemed appropriate for today.
> 
> Also fills my Marvel Fluff Bingo square for Cuddling. :)

Jemma had a hypothesis.

For about four weeks now, she had been sneezing and sniffling exponentially more than she usually did at this time of year. Pollen counts for everything had been low. She had not tried any new foods, worn any new clothes, or gone anywhere new. She had always been meticulous about hand-washing, especially so after coming to spend most of her life in a laboratory, so she highly doubted she was reacting to anything she had touched in any of her experiments.

And, most importantly, there was only one thing in the world that she knew she was allergic to: cats.

And her apartment shared a vent with the unit next door.

This apartment had a no-pets-with-hair-or-feathers policy; in fact, that was partly why she had chosen to live here. Lizards, fish, snakes, any of these could live silently and unobtrusively in tanks and not bother other tenants. Dogs, cats, rodents, and bird though—those were forbidden, and anyone keeping such a pet would surely keep it as silent as possible.

So, it was a rather sound hypothesis, really.

Hypotheses were useless though unless they were tested.

Unfortunately, testing this one would require conflict, or at the very least a confrontation. It felt childish to go tattling to the superintendent without attempting to resolve everything peacefully with her neighbor directly. Jemma has never met the tenant in the unit next to hers; the closest they’ve come to even seeing each other is one of them leaving the apartment just as the other one disappears inside. She actually has no idea even if it’s a man or woman—though the lack of noise makes her suspect it’s a woman. She seems to keep funny hours too, never coming and going in the morning or early evening like the rest of their building seems to.

So Jemma really doesn’t know what to prepare herself for as she knocks on the door of the place next to hers, actually praying that no one will be home.

A few seconds after her knock though, see hears footsteps on the other side.

_Kind and polite, kind and polite…_

Her prepared monologue evaporates however when the tenant opens the door. Partly because the woman standing on the other side is astoundingly beautiful, and partly because Jemma immediately has to sneeze.

“Oh, so sorry,” she says immediately, blushing as she wipes her face on her sleeve and quickly deciding not to offer a handshake. “And I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m Jemma. I live next door.”

She’s in the middle of gesturing towards her door when the stranger suddenly almost-closes the door on her, and Jemma hears her his something unintelligible before the other woman is opening the door again.

“Sorry, could you come in?” the young woman asks, reaching through with one arm and catching Jemma’s clean hand. Jemma is too surprised to protest, moving forward automatically and stepping through the small space until she’s pressed together with the stranger on the other side of the door.

“Sorry,” the other woman says, putting space between them as soon as the door is shut. “It’s just…sometimes they try to get out…”

She gestures helplessly towards the floor, and Jemma looks down.

“Oh my goodness,” she exhales.

There are not one, not two, but _four_ cats now busy twining around her ankles. All of them are tiny, their legs no longer than her fingers, but they are obviously old enough to be walking around exploring, so already a few weeks old.

“So, you’re obviously onto me,” the tenant says a little glumly, moving further into the apartment and gesturing Jemma after her. “I know that we’re not supposed to have pets here, but…well…I’m weak.”

The woman points to the back of her sofa where a gray tabby cat, a full-grown cat, is resting with all her feet tucked up under her, eyeing Jemma suspiciously.

“That one had been hanging around the window for weeks, and I’d started leaving her food on the fire escape. It wasn’t long before I could tell she was pregnant, and I hated the thought of her having kittens out there in the cold. So I started letting her come in a little, hoping she’d work up to feeling safe enough to have her babies here, and sure enough…”

Jemma can’t really speak, but she is saved from an awkward silence when one of the kittens suddenly leaps up her leg, latching onto her yoga pants with its tiny claws and beginning to climb. Jemma’s surprised yelp makes the other woman quickly shift back to her, giggling as she helps unhook the tiny creature from her clothes.

“Sorry, they’ve just started doing that this week. Places to be.” The woman looks up, now cuddling the arrested kitten close to her chest, and Jemma finds herself unable to be angry.

“What’s your name?” she asks, finally remembering to start from the beginning.

“Daisy,” the young woman says, sticking out her hand.

“I’m Jemma,” she answers, shaking the woman’s hand briefly and then reaching out to pet the kitten’s soft head. “I should tell you that I was coming over here to ask you if you would own up to having a cat and then find some other place for it, since we share a vent and I’m allergic to cats…”

“Are you really? Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Daisy says, sounding genuinely so. “I was worried about the noise, but I forgot about the allergens…they’ve generally been so quiet that I thought we were in the clear…”

The brunette looks down at the kittens, pursing her lips.

“I’ve thought about taking them to a shelter, but I wanted to wait until they were old enough to be adopted. I think in about two or three more weeks, they’ll be ready to go. I hate to ask it, but do you think you could help me keep the secret a little longer? Just until then?”

Jemma smiles. Between the kitten in her hands and the woman’s puppy-dog eyes, it’s really quite a lost cause.

“I’ll make you a deal, Daisy,” she says. “I promise I won’t tell the super your secret, on one condition: you have to let me come over sometimes to play with and cuddle the kittens.”

Daisy’s brows shoot up.

“But what about your allergies?”

Jemma smiles again, allowing herself to hypothesize about what else could happen in the next three weeks.

“Some experiments are worth the sniffles.”


End file.
